New Test of the Equivalence Principle from Lunar Laser Ranging

Williams, J. G.; Dicke, R. H.; Bender, P. L.; Alley, C. O.; Carter, W. E.; Currie, D. G.; Eckhardt, Donald H.; Faller, J. E.; Kaula, W. M.; Mulholland, J. D.; Plotkin, H. H.; Poultney, S. K.; Shelus, P. J.; Silverberg, E. C.; Sinclair, W. S.; Slade, M. A.; Wilkinson, D. T.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.36.551

Cited by 161 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The model developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was one of the first programs for LLR analysis [83] and continues to be updated. It was recently used to produce limits on the SEP violation, time variation of the gravitational constant, and interior structure of the Moon [80, 81].…”

Section: Modeling and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging

Merkowitz

2010

Living Rev. Relativ.

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Lunar laser ranging (LLR) has been a workhorse for testing general relativity over the past four decades. The three retroreflector arrays put on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts and the French built arrays on the Soviet Lunokhod rovers continue to be useful targets, and have provided the most stringent tests of the Strong Equivalence Principle and the time variation of Newton’s gravitational constant. The relatively new ranging system at the Apache Point 3.5 meter telescope now routinely makes millimeter level range measurements. Incredibly, it has taken 40 years for ground station technology to advance to the point where characteristics of the lunar retroreflectors are limiting the precision of the range measurements. In this article, we review the gravitational science and technology of lunar laser ranging and discuss prospects for the future.

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Section: Modeling and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging

Merkowitz

2010

Living Rev. Relativ.

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“…We call this effect, generalized to all similar three body situations, the "SEP polarization effect". The most accurate test of this effect is presently provided by Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) (Williams 1976;Shapiro et al 1976;Dickey et al 1989), and in the most recent results (Dickey et al 1994;Williams et al 1995) the parameter η was determined to be η = −0.0005 ± 0.0011 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Solar Test of the Equivalence Principle

Anderson¹,

Gross²,

Nordtvedt

et al. 1996

ApJ

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The Earth, Mars, Sun, Jupiter system allows for a sensitive test of the strong equivalence principle (SEP) which is qualitatively different from that provided by Lunar Laser Ranging. Using analytic and numerical methods we demonstrate that Earth-Mars ranging can provide a useful estimate of the SEP parameter $\eta$. Two estimates of the predicted accuracy are derived and quoted, one based on conventional covariance analysis, and another (called ``modified worst case'' analysis) which assumes that systematic errors dominate the experiment. If future Mars missions provide ranging measurements with an accuracy of $\sigma$ meters, after ten years of ranging the expected accuracy for the SEP parameter $\eta$ will be of order $(1-12)\times 10^{-4}\sigma$. These ranging measurements will also provide the most accurate determination of the mass of Jupiter, independent of the SEP effect test.Comment: 10 pages; LaTeX; three figures upon reques

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“…Indeed, LLR technique is currently the most effective way to study the interior of Moon and dynamics of the Moon-Earth system. The most important contributions from LLR include: detection of a molten lunar core (Williams 2007) and measurement of its influence on Moon's orientation (Williams et al 2001a) and tidal dissipation (Williams et al 2001b; detection of lunar free libration along with the forced terms from Venus and the internal excitation mechanisms (Rambaux et al 2008); an accurate test of the strong principle of equivalence for massive bodies (Müller and Nordtvedt 1998;Williams et al 1976) also known as the Nordtvedt effect (Will 1993, Sect. 8.1); and setting of a stringent limit on time variability of the universal gravitational constant and (non)existence of long-range fields besides the metric tensor (Nordtvedt 2001).…”

Section: Lunar Laser Rangingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Celestial reference frames and the gauge freedom in the post-Newtonian mechanics of the Earth–Moon system

Kopeikin

Xie

2010

Celest Mech Dyn Astr

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We introduce the Jacobi coordinates adopted to the advanced theoretical analysis of the relativistic Celestial Mechanics of the Earth-Moon system. Theoretical derivation utilizes the relativistic resolutions on reference frames adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2000. The resolutions assume that the Solar System is isolated and space-time is asymptotically flat at infinity and the primary reference frame covers the entire space-time, has its origin at the Solar System barycenter (SSB) with spatial axes stretching up to infinity. The SSB frame is not rotating with respect to a set of distant quasars that are assumed to be at rest on the sky forming the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF). The second reference frame has its origin at the Earth-Moon barycenter (EMB). The EMB frame is locally inertial and is not rotating dynamically in the sense that equation of motion of a test particle moving with respect to the EMB frame, does not contain the Coriolis and centripetal forces. Two other local frames -geocentric and selenocentric-have their origins at the center of mass of Earth and Moon respectively and do not rotate dynamically. Each local frame is subject to the geodetic precession both with respect to other local frames and with respect to the ICRF because of their relative motion with respect to each other. Theoretical advantage of the dynamically non-rotating local frames is in a more simple mathematical description of the metric tensor and relative equations of motion of the Moon with respect to Earth. Each local frame can be converted to kinematically non-rotating one after alignment with the axes of ICRF by applying the matrix of the relativistic precession as recommended by the IAU resolutions. The set of one global and three local frames is introduced in order

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New Test of the Equivalence Principle from Lunar Laser Ranging

Cited by 161 publications

References 36 publications

Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging

Tests of Gravity Using Lunar Laser Ranging

The Solar Test of the Equivalence Principle

Celestial reference frames and the gauge freedom in the post-Newtonian mechanics of the Earth–Moon system

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